Episode 7: Reading the News & The Jolly Swagman

Light acoustic guitar plays.

Narrator: Here where Wagga Wagga's two main streets Fitzmaurice and Baylis meet over the Wollundry Lagoon, we are greeted by a lady sitting on a bench, reading the newspaper. The work, titled Reading the News is by artist Mary Perrott Stimson.

Reading the News was commissioned by Wagga Wagga City Council as a Centenary of Federation Project. If you look closely, you might notice that the lady, whose name is Deborah, is reading a two-sided newspaper. On one side, the paper features The Wagga Wagga Advertiser from 1901 and on the other, The Daily Advertiser from 2001.

Captured in bronze, the newspaper appears to be unfurling like the wings of a butterfly before it takes flight. The butterfly motif which is also reflected in Deborah’s top represents metamorphosis – celebrating the Centenary of Federation.

There are more of Stimson’s sculptures featured along Baylis Street. Each sculpture is based on a sketch she completed while people-watching in the CBD.

Acoustic guitar fades and transitions to ‘Waltzing Matilda’ played by guitar and violin

Following the pedestrian crossing over to the Victory Memorial Gardens, there is another curious character waiting for us.

Music fades.

Perched on an island surrounded by a shallow billabong – the Jolly Swagman rests his legs under the shade of the coolabah tree. The Jolly Swagman is the oldest work in the Wagga Wagga City Council Public Art Collection. It was installed in 1978 and was created by artist Aurel John Ragus. If you look closely, you might notice the subtle ways in which the work references the famous Banjo Patterson poem Waltzing Matilda

‘Waltzing Matilda’ plays again and continues under the male voice reading the poem WALTZING MATILDA by Banjo Patterson

Male voice: Oh there once was a swagman camped in the billabong
Under the shade of  coolabah tree
And he sang as he looked at the old billy boiling Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda my darling
Who'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
Waltzing Matilda leading a water bag
Who'll come a Waltzing Maltida with me

Down came a jumbuck to drink at the water-hole
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him in glee
And he said as he put him away in the tuckerbag sYou’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
You''ll come a Waltzing Matilda my darling
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
Waltzing Matilda leading a water bag
You'll come a Waltzing Maltida with me

Down came the Squatter, arriving  on his thoroughbred
Down came policeman , one, two and three
Where is that jumbuck you’ve got in the  tucker bag
You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
You''ll come a Waltzing Matilda my darling
You'll come a Waltzing Matilda with me
Waltzing Matilda leading a tucker bag
You'll come a Waltzing Maltida with me

But the swagman he up and he jumped in the water-hole
Drowning himself by the Coolibah tree
And his ghost may can be  heard as it sings   in the billabong
Who’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me

Narrator: Continuing down Baylis street, the next artwork to greet you is ‘morning light’ an impressive two story mural in the heart of town.

Visual Description

Reading the news:

‘Reading the news’ is a dark grey statue of a cartoon-style woman sitting on a log reading an open newspaper. The statue is just over five feet tall. The shape of the woman has been cast in bronze. She is flat and two-dimensional, she is sitting with her back to us, but her face is in side profile. The newspaper the woman is holding up frames her face and small words have been carved into the pages of the bronze newspaper. They are large enough for audiences to read the paper along with her. The woman is sitting on a square wooden log with her back facing the street. The statue is all one colour, but the artist has used texture and line to give the silhouette of the woman more detailed physical features. The woman has her hair in a bun and wears a knee-length skirt with a zig-zag pattern and a short sleeve t-shirt with small butterflies on it. The woman and the newspaper are combined into one shape but the artist has used forced perspective to make it appear that the woman is holding the newspaper paper out in front of her face. The newspaper can be read from either side. On one side of the newspaper is an article from the year 1901. On the other side of the newspaper is an article from the year 2001.

The Jolly Swagman:

The jolly swagman is a dark brown metal sculpture of a thin-framed man sitting on a tree stump. At the base of the tree stump is a large flat rock, this is what the sculpture has been built on. The rock is surrounded by a shallow circular moat. The moat is now empty but was once full of water. The swagman is sitting with his bent legs apart and resting his hands on his thighs. His right hand is holding a tin mug by its handle. The mug hangs almost horizontally from his hand, indicating that it’s  empty. On the rock and sitting between his feet is a billy can and in front of that is a pile of thin sticks arranged into a campfire. He has a thick moustache and long sideburns. His head is titled upwards as if he is looking into the treetops.  Behind the man is a thin gum tree also made of metal. The tree is not yet fully grown and is only twice the height of the seated man. It has very few gum leaves and only five short thin branches at the top.